Buffalo Launches First 8x Blu-ray Drives

The inevitable climb up the speed ratings for Blu-ray took a long overdue jump late last week when Buffalo announced the fastest drives to date…

The 8x rated internal ‘BR-816FBS’ and external ‘BR-816SU2’ both cosy up this new industry high and back it up with burn times of up to 16x for DVDs and 48x for the venerable CD. Buffer capacity is a chunky 8MB too and the SU2 will also offer a choice of USB or eSATA connection options.

Buffalo doesn’t go into any specifics about the amount of time these new models will save you - but 20 per cent over a 6x seems mathematically reasonable. For all their wizz bang however there is a double case of irony here. The first is 8x Blu-ray media isn’t yet on shop shelves (though taking some expensive coaster risks could reveal to you some forgiving 6x-ers). Secondly, both drives are actually powered by Panasonic SW-5584 units but Buffalo has managed to bring them to market faster than their creator.

As you might expect, they dynamic duo will hit Japan first with RRPs of 41,055 yen (approx £160) for the internal and 46,725 yen (approx £220) or the external.

So Buffalo (Panasonic?) takes the speed crown for now, but don’t expect it to be on its lonesome for long. With technology no 'World First' ever it…